20 plus roads of back roads in darkness with fallen trees everywhere. that's a scary one. christopher said nine hours and 20 minutes to drive hours and 20 minutes to drive 12 miles in the snow. >> that has to be route 128 if you're from massachusetts it's a nightmare even when it's sunny and dry. thank you, natalie. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ good morning. it's monday, december the 9th. look at the trees. isn't it pretty, guys? it's gorgeous. with us on set former treasury official and "morning joe" economic analyst steve rattner. >> good morning, mika. >> former governor of vermont here on the set howard dean. >> how about that? >> in washington, we have senior

political editor and white house correspondent for the "huffington post," sam stein. willie, good weekend >> yeah. rolling with this holidays. >> rolling with this holidays. it will be here before you know it. actually just on cue millions of americans are waking up to a messy morning. overnight snowfall turned into sleet and freezing rain making the commute network this morning tricky for many in the northeast. over the weekend a large part of the midwest was blanketed with snow as record low temperatures hit most of the nation. philly, washington, d.c., baltimore, all received the first measurable snowfall of the year. seriously? shaking hands? let's go to our meteorologist bill karins with the rest of this. >> it was okay on sunday. a lot of us were at homes, watching these entertaining football games. it went from being an inconvenience on sunday to now very troublesome for travel.

this is southeast highlights. pittsburgh, the perfect case of just a little bit of snow and a little coating of ice and, again, watching the d.c. area too. this was the philadelphia game. i mean this was the most snow we saw anywhere, areas of maryland, delaware, right in southern jersey, some people picked up as much as six to 12 inches. in general that was the exsense. a lot of areas dealing with crunchiness, half inch of snow and ice on top. good news i-95 now has warmed up overnight. the only spot near freezing is baltimore. d.c. is at 34. philly at 36. new york 35. all those locations will see improving roads during the day. suburbs outside of those spots, northern virginia, areas of eastern pennsylvania, northern jersey, southern portions of new england, that's where the icy conditions will continue. i'm sure there's a lot of school delays and cancelations out there this morning across that region. the other story, the cold blast. it's 7 degrees right now in

kansas city. the reason i'm bringing that up let's take a look, it's 31 in fairbanks, alaska. it's much colder in the midwest and central u.s. than it is in alaska. crazy weather pattern right now. mika this continues this week areas like new york, baltimore, d.c., snow tomorrow morning maybe an inch or two to make for another slippery commute. >> bill, thanks. we'll be back in touch with you. we're going to have a story coming up about the republican party and members of it finally coming together. amazing. calling for unity. but first today's "new york times" is out with a powerful piece on the challenges facing the city's homeless particularly children. the article focuses on an 11-year-old, one of 22,000 homeless children in new york, the most since the great depression. data shows half of new yorkers live at or below the poverty line. it's not just new york. 20% of kids nationwide live in

poverty. only romania has a higher rate among developed nations. in washington, congress is debating whether to extend jobless benefits to the long term unemployed. without action 1.3 million people will lose the emergency assistance. senator rand paul says the best way to get workers back on their feet is to limit the government's role in helping them. >> i do support unemployment benefits for the 26 weeks that they are paid for. if you extend it beyond that you do a disservice to these workers. there was a study that came out a few months ago and it said if you have a worker that has been unemployed for four weeks and on unemployment insurance and another on 99 weeks, which one would hire. nearly every employer said they would hire the person whose been out of work for four weeks. when you let them be out of work >> what's wrong with him?t

>> what do you mean? >> i'm sorry, you have to speak. >> do i have to speak? >> yes. >> explain that to me. >> i can only tell you that -- >> that made no sense. that made no sense. >> crazy. >> can i -- >> that made no sense. that was crazy. i'm sorry. sorry to say that very carefully. crazy. >> a u.s. senator crazy, and you say that carefully? >> explain. someone. >> i just tried to start. >> you went to brown. you went to where. >> never mind. >> oh, my god tell me all these educated people on the set what is he trying to say. >> i went to alabama so i can probably explain it better than anybody else. boy that cuts like a knife. >> tell me, what is the concept. >> we don't know how to kick a

field goal when we're at the 15 yard line. >> great game. >> is anyone here? >> kicked the ball -- 59 yard kick but we don't kick a 15 yard field goal. anyway, so let me just say there were a lot of people -- i'm going to say two things so you can't jump on me after i say the first thing. okay. >> okay. >> number one i hate to be harold ford everybody told us back in 1996 when we tried to pass welfare reform and limit the number of weeks, months, years people could be on welfare that we were the most cold hearted hateful people of all time and young children would starve and grand mothers would be thrown out in the snow. we were. we were called the most heartless people of all time. we passed it over two bill clinton wes to. he signed at any time third time. most everybody said that it was a great success. even people for children's defense fund said the most

heinous things about us. that's one side of the argument. the other side of the argument is that and this is -- something i'm debating between myself so please some acting so shocked and stunned. there are real policy -- >> i'm trying to understand. >> i just explained the first part to you. people like you said we were hateful human beings back in 1996. >> for the record i was in favor of that and we did it before bill clinton. >> the second part really quickly is, second part is this is a recession unlike most recessions, and i can tell you when my father was unemployed in the recession in the early 1970s and getting $40 a week for mississippi for unemployment benefits and got one bag of groceries and fill up one tank of gas, if somebody had told us over that year and a half and my

danielle adams was driving around the southeast with all of us trying to find a job, somebody said we'll do you a favor and cut off your unemployment benefits we would say thank you so much but we're good. and my danielle adams -- my danielle adams was working his ass off. we didn't have summer vacations for two years. we drove around trying to find a job. we couldn't afford it. so when rand paul says what he says i would just say as a member of the republican party that would like to get back into the white house again before i die, we need to be more careful about how we say those things because there are -- howard, you understand, there are two sides of this debate and we have to balance. >> the problem with people like rand paul may not be his republicanism but his privileged position as son of a physician who is doing pretty well in life and now a united states senator. we did welfare reform. we didn't do what gingrich did.

>> it worked. >> but, it did reduce welfare roles in half. we allowed them to get credit for school and college and bettering themselves. this is, i would agree with your second argument. this is about a recession. we still are not back to the number of jobs we had in 2008. >> yeah. >> to cut people off is crazy. i think this cutting the food stamps thing is crazy. if you're worried people are cheating then put in some more regulations. vermont just got fined for not being tough enough in terms of giving out food stamps. i have no problem with that. in this recession let's not cut off food stamps. this girl on the front page of the "new york times." >> we're talking about poverty. >> working people fall into poverty. lose your job at 55 years old in this recession you're not getting another chance at a job.

>> "new york times" report poverty rates are at all time highs. there's a lot of times in the past where identify been opposed to extending unemployment benefits. in fact throughout most of my adult life this is a different kind of recession. >> it is. and this article right here by andrea elliot front page of the "times" is why bill de blasio was elected. the tale of two cities as he put it. a lot of it, steve you have some charts here -- goes to affordable housing. so many elements to this story. it's not a new york city story it's a national story. mika said one in five american children live in poverty. >> it's a national story. what you have are a number of things that come together to create it. you had this terrible recession. you have the rising income equality which is fine for wealthy people to get wealthier but the people at the bottom have gotten poorer. you have reduction in food

stamps. the average food stamp income has gone from $33 to $25 as part of this. you got a discussion about the minimum wage. >> you can't live on it. >> there's a whole bunch of things that come together in a perfect storm for people at the bottom and so they feel very picked upon and i think rightly so. >> joe, you would agree you got to make work pay in order to get people network. asking people to work for something they can't afford to support their family on that's not really how welfare reform works. >> i agree. republicans certainly, i think, willie, republicans can make the argument that we are where we are four years later because barack obama's policies have made things worse. if we want to make that argument we can make that argument. but it's harder for us. it does not help us, i don't think with swing voters to say we'll do you guys a favor and cut off all your unemployment benefits. >> i don't think that helps.

i'm just thinking it doesn't. >> it's not a good message. steve, your first chart on the minimum wage is 7.25 right now. let's say you get 40 hours a week, 52 weeks that comes to $15,000 a year which puts you below the poverty line. >> one of the ways people are pushing back on this perfect storm against people at the bottom is by focusing on the minimum wage. the minimum wage is $7.25 as you see here on this chart. which is not oddly enough the lowest. these are all inflation adjusted. they go back to the 1960s. in the 1960s it was $9.50. went down in the '80s. oddly enough it was president bush's administration that pushed a three step increase that took it back up to $7.25. it's been declining in real terms since then. but because of what we've been

talking about there's an enormous push behind getting some kind of a living wage or minimum wage passed. nothing much is happening in washington. president obama was in favor of a $9 minimum wage. now in favor of a $10.10-minute mum wage. not a lot going on in congress. in the states you can see there's a lot more going on. california recently passed a bill to raise the minimum wage from $8 to $10. the highest in the country. district of columbia they are about to pass, i think, legislation that would take it up over $11. doing this in concert with two maryland counties because you want to avoid the factor if you raise the minimum wage in one place, walmart threatened not to go to washington. this is a controversial subject. in the context the bottom fifth of american families have lost 15% of their real income since

the year 1999. these are hurting people. >> sam stein, this is a central issue from extending unemployment benefits -- you know, progressives have always been pushing for higher minimum wages, conservatives have been talking about keeping the minimum wage down low. i'll tell you right now that you get a lot of conservative push back on capitol hill that when you're in a recession obviously that's the worst time to raise minimum wage because you're going between that and the new health care act, you are going to cost jobs. this makes people very angry. i went out shopping this weekend, started my christmas shopping this weekend. i talked like every business owner, i go to local businesses and i do it in part what's going on. how is your job. how is "your business." man, it's flat out there.

it's tough. without me saying anything they talk about affordable care act, they talk about what small business owners talk about, tax, regulations. so talk about what you're hearing on the hill, what you're hearing at the white house. is there a chance to pass minimum wage nationally even through the senate? >> the minimum wage talk -- you hear that much more to the side than the unemployment insurance. steve and his chart noted minimum wage hiked in bush years 2007 the country had not gone through a recession and things were looking good. it took a huge amount of capital from the senators. ted kennedy keys speech pushed the bill over the top. i don't hear much talk or optimism that we're going to get a hike to $10.10. in fact you hear more skepticism

about that. with respect to unemployment insurance, you're starting to see the debate heat up in part because it comes at a cruel time. it would be right after christmas, december 28th. you have about 1.3 million people losing benefits. the question is how do you pay for it. right now the cost is about $25 billion so these budget negotiations that are happening right now they are trying to figure out if they can find money to pay for that $25 billion year long extension or if they need to scale back the length of the extension or how many weeks you can get benefits. there's a lot of moving parts. there's a lot of pressure for them to act too. >> or you can just do what senator rand paul wants is delay a christmas miracle and yank them. all right. as mid-terms approach party leaders are trying to shore up on unified fronts.

eric cantor urged virginia republicans to start making voters feel comfortable with the party. over kitchen table issues. quote, if we want to win, we must begin to offer solutions to problems that people face every day. this is very -- yeah. when our party is not united and when we fail to offer a plan that connects with people and the problems that they are having we lose at the ballot box. and when we lose at the ballot box we get policies like obama care. cantor noticed due to party infighting republicans fail to hold a single major statewide office in virginia. last time that happened was 1969. the same year neil armstrong walked on the moon. on the other side of the aisle there are signs that the unified front of the democratic party may be cracking. a week ago a "wall street journal" op-ed from a centrist think tank called third way targeted bill de blasio and

elizabeth warren saying economic populism will be disastrous for democrats. the piece warns senator warren's plan to expand entitlements like social security and medicare by raising taxes and closing corporate loopholes is a dead end for democrats. liberal groups supporting warren are pushing back calling on high-profile democratic members of congress to disavow the piece. >> going to be interesting. republicans seem to be really starting -- be more unified after the disaster of the government shutdown and eric cantor speaking from a state where no republican holds an office. >> he's been fanning the social issues. you guys have a tea party problem. i was on a radio show not too long ago with ben weber and a

woman from the tea party who is running against pete sessions. he's got the rhetoric. we don't have a problem. i don't think. third way are not players. >> you mean the democratic party is going to go further and further leftwich is awesome, by the way. i love that you guys are going to -- >> this is the straw man stuff. >> not straw man. we're talking about bill de blasio and elizabeth warren and mainstream democrats who are actually trying to move the party back to the center and they get killed. i love this. >> you're making this stuff up. >> i'm not making this stuff up. it was in the "new york times." >> stop it. blah, blah, blah, blah. >> you sit here with your carl bernstein, american banter, tea party nonsense and then the second i talk about -- you talk

i was talking to so-and-so in a barber's chair and they said it was bad. i bring up a "new york times" article and you freak out saying i'm making stuff up. >> first, before we get too far ahead in virginia the next candidate up is mark warner who is a very centrist democrat, a very reasonable guy, very popular in virginia. i think it will be a while -- >> he won't have any challenges from the left. >> no challenges from the left. secondly howard and i would be happy to engaging a short debate over that third wave piece. i think the points they make are completely right. you cannot have a party that is proposing all kinds of things that we can't pay for, that are fiscally irresponsible. >> insane, expanding medicare at a time when medicare and medicaid is going bankrupt. >> social security. >> it's not the same thing.

>> expanding entitlements. >> boy that sure is great. why don't we -- >> you are taking stuff and expanding it. >> no, i'm not. >> the democratic party has moved -- you're a left winger. al from -- >> al from is no longer a player. >> not for al from. we would not have had bill clinton and -- >> that's ridiculous. fit were not for bill clinton -- >> it's three way argument. >> hat makes me sad is when democrats like this fight and they are proving the point. if you don't agree with the hard left wing of the party that my dear friend howard dean represents then you just get attacked. >> i'm scared. i think bill clinton put our

party right back where it belongs in the center. so i want us to stay there. >> let's go to sam stein. >> policies that we can -- >> sam, nothing makes me more sad -- >> than when democrats fight. >> you must be crying inside. >> yeah. >> so, just a point on the third op-ed. this notion of expanding social security. first of all if you look at any public opinion poll people favor it. that's because people like having their dessert along with the their veggies. senator mark begich is a co-sponsor to expand social security. it's a legitimate policy. >> he's up for re-election. >> it's a legitimate policy. it's one way to make sure the social safety net is there

because it expands the viability of social security. if you want to make the policy merits you have to look at that. you can have the debate over whether it's the right politics for the party to go down that right. elizabeth warren has done pretty well for herself. >> i hope that elizabeth warren and joe de blasio and that wing of the democratic party they need to grow, they need to expand. i want -- >> finally we agree on something. >> i want them to expand, willie -- >> you guys are so wrong. >> republicans will get back in the white house again. >> you know what? >> voters will -- >> i'm just saying you're underestimating, i think, what will be a major player and -- >> i love her. you know i love her. her politics, man, i hope the whole democratic party goes over

there. >> me too. i'm with you. >> those holes will run through. >> closing corporate loopholes i'm sure that will play badly in the midwest. >> let's close corporate loopholes. you don't have to raise social security benefits without proposing,000 pay for them. >> and not rip people off which is what happens right now. coming up on morning snow, senator joe manchin, former presidential candidate in jon huntsman will be here, leigh gallagher and mark mckinnon. mike allen is here. what happened? did somebody club him? top stories in the political playbook coming up. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back.

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let's take a look at the morning papers from our parade of papers. the "l.a. times," ukraine's president is facing a 48 hour deadline to disband his government. anti-government protesters toppled a statue of lenin, the founder of the vote union. the protesters warn they will target the president's home next if he doesn't disband the government. demonstrators are rallying against the government's decision to walk away from a european union trade deal to keep close ties with russia. >> "chicago tribune," the extraordinary achievements of the 2013 kennedy center honorees were celebrated last night in washington. recipients included billy joel, shirley mcclain and others. president obama joked with shirley mcclain over her fascinations of aliens and area 51. >> when you first become president one of the questions people ask you what's really

going on in area 51? [ laughter ] when i want to know, i call shirley mcclain. [ laughter ] i think i just became the first president to ever publicly mention area 51. [ laughter ] >> "usa today," a man from louisiana woke up from his nap to find that he was locked on board his flight. after three dozen passengers had exited the plane somehow express jet cabin crew did not notice the passenger tom wagner and left him locked inside the plane at an airport in houston. >> that happen to you willie? >> it's only happened to me twice. >> once on a long island railroad train. >> oh, my gosh. >> i went to the other side of montauk which is hard to do which is the atlantic ocean.

i woke up. that's true. >> luckily wagner called his girlfriend and alerted the airline. express jet says it's investigating how this bizarre oversight occurred. >> heavy slumber too. sleep through the landing. >> "new york daily news" bob dylan's electric guitar auctioned off for nearly $1 million. highest price ever paid for a guitar at auction. widely considered one of the most iconic moments in rock history. >> it really was. that was one of the -- put it down, yeah, elvis on ed sullivan, beatles on ed sullivan and dylan going electric. >> highest price for a guitar

was what jimmy hendrix played with his teeth. he put together a museum of jimmy hendrix and wanted that guitar. how is that for trivia? >> pretty good. >> my talk thing and then -- >> maybe it was the same night that's what the problem was. >> that's interesting. i didn't know that. >> yeah. >> willie, i'm worried about mike allen. >> mike allen, chief white house correspondent for politico. he's here in new york. >> i've never been better. >> walking boot. >> what happened? treadmill injury. >> it happened with his trainer. >> what? >> i should have been safe. i'm with my trainer. she had me do this tigger move where you leap up on a box. people get hurt doing that all the time. at george washington hospital they go i bet this was box

jumping. yes, it was. >> what did do you? >> i broke a leg. >> oh, my god. >> oh, my lord. >> just broke one bone. i got this thing for a couple of weeks. >> you did that jumping off a box. you're like that samuel l. jackson character, unbreakable. do you remember that. >> it's much better than having a sling or a cast. it's like jim always makes fun of how i'm mr. optimism. i called him this week i said the greatest thing happened it's just a boot. just for weeks not for months. >> you jump off this box and landed wrong or what? >> yeah. there's this box that you're supposed -- >> so what happened?

i'm doing an interview here. you're with this trainer and there's a box. >> yeah. >> you jump up on that box. now what would you -- >> i'm trying to avoid that part. >> what part did you break? did you fall off the box? >> yes, i did. >> you twisted it. >> a little bruise. little ankle bruise. in a couple of weeks -- >> it's an ankle thing. >> it's a great sport. >> it's a broken -- >> box jumping injury. all too common. >> we heard that so much. how sad. i think actually you can check this out, i think more people get injured in that than in automobile accidents. >> is that true? >> it is true. >> fact checker. >> not hard. >> come on. i'm just joking. >> i don't smoke cigarettes.

we don't talk tobacco. >> people do believe that. >> do they really? >> if it's on the show it's true. >> there it is. >> they think we have camels with us at holiday inn. >> how do you guys know beckham. so your politico maggot a big piece out of hillary clinton's run as secretary of state asking the question was hillary clinton a good secretary of state. what's the conclusion in the piece. >> and the editor of politico magazine makes the point that people were reading about secretary clinton's record how great it was. now you hear more and more people saying secretary kerry has accomplished more in less than a year than she did -- >> who is driving that story? >> who is driving that story? >> i'm curious. inside the state department story? are people leaking that. i'm just curious. >> isn't it obvious?

>> world events have come together for secretary kerry that moved the ball in the middle east on iran, on syria. and all areas where she didn't have the chance to have that sort of movement. >> yeah. wow. you're a virginia guy, what do you make of eric cantor? i think i read this on politico yesterday. it sounds like eric cantor, and, you know, i think it's interesting ted cruz is going to mandela's funeral. i think republicans are starting to look beyond their very small base and realize they got to expand to win national elections. the cantor thing was fascinating. >> this was in virginia this weekend talking to about 500 activists, and eric cantor talked about how the republican party needs be fighting democrats not themselves, and he said the republicans need to talk to people where they are. a great stat that i ran across

the other day. 232 house republicans, 89% of them white males. white males in the country, 36%. so these republicans are dealing a little bit with that math problem trying to close that gap. >> yeah. >> this meeting where eric cantor talked was fascinating. virginia republicans called at any time advance because they don't want to be retreating. they want to advance. and ed gillespie, mark warner wants to run against him. he's strong. if he jumped in, that would be one of the hottest races in the country. mark warner would be strong and the favorite but a real race. >> mike allen look at the playbook. cut out that box jumping. >> i'll give you a box jumping. >> coming up sunday night

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♪ >> history is made! >> looking at an nfl record. the broncos, matt crater, from 64 yards out longest field goal in history as the broncos beat up on the titans yesterday. a few guys held the record at 63 yards including former bronco jason. panthers and saints last night down in new orleans, carolina had won eight straight. the win though was big and easy for drew brees. breeze finds marcus for the touchdown. breeze to jimmy graham. breeze passes 50,000 career passing yards putting him fifth on the all time passing list. saints cruise 31-13 lead and looking in good shape. super dome was dry, climate controlled elsewhere, a winter

wonderland. storm coming down on these five cities. snowball, vikings/ravens in baltimore. not much scoring until the very end of this one. toby finds a big hole. vikings up 4 at that point. gentlem jacoby jones up. matt castle dumps it. patterson gets a few good blocks goes 79 yards for the touchdown. end of the game. that's your winner? no, sir. one more time as they go back and forth joe flacco takes his team 80 yard. great catch. getting two down. marlin brown. ravens win a wild one in baltimore. heaviest snow of the day was in philly. lions and eagles. ground crew had a tough time keeping up. tied game in the fourth quarter.

eagles win 34-20, 8-5. the pole now won five consecutive games. pittsburgh steelers dolphins. the miami players didn't seem to mind the weather. fourth quarter check out the tight end charles clay. come on. oh, my gosh. that's unbelievable. shaking the defenders wrestling his way out of that one. touchdown. dolphins take the lead. with no time on the clock steelers have time for one more play. >> one second to get the snap off. desperation time for pittsburgh. a throw to sanders. played the lateral game here for pittsburgh. back to ortiz. roethlisberger now running. shovels up for ground. he's got room. throws down the sideline. miami trying to bring it down and antonio brown, incredible! ?

>> looks like could be the winning touchdown, toe out of bounds. steelers lose to dolphins. patriots and brown, rob gronkowski takes a hit at the knee. he goes down and carted off the field. torn acl. done for the season. pats come back in the fourth quarter. one minute left. new england down five points. on the next kick-off pats going on side and it works. bouncing off the browns, they recover the on site kick. sealing the win with this pass. patriots come back to win on the browns 27-26. another upset in college football means our championship game is set without controversy. florida state will play auburn for the national title thanks to ohio state losing to michigan state in the big ten title game on sunday. alabama ends the season ranked

number three followed by michigan state and stanford. coming up next, dr. jeffrey sachs joins us for mika's unfortunate read opinion pages. we'll be right back.

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things you've been talking about for so long. >> everyone is talking about them now. you know, we went for so long without discussing these realities now. everyone is opening their eyes. and i was at the vatican last week, the message, of course, is so clear from all over the world, people are flocking to the vatican right now to talk about social justice. it's amazing. >> so, here's what i have for must reads from "the guardian," this is the creator of the wire, david simon. there are now two americas, my country is a horror show. the idea that the market will solve such things as environmental concerns, as our racial divides, as our class distinctions, our problems with educating and incorporating one generation of workers into the economy after the other when that economy is changing, the idea that the market is going heed all of the human concerns and still maximize profit is juvenile. it's a juvenile notion and it's still being argued in my country

passionately and we're going down the tubes and it terrify if is me because i'm astonished at how comfortable we are in absolving ourselves of what is basically a moral choice. are we all in this together or are we all not? wow. >> yeah. >> the pope uses this expression, the globalization of indifference and i think it really is his point and it's a pretty stunning expression. just saying we lost the ability to just understand the reality right now. and there's so much distraction, images, everything that we have come to, almost inured to this stuff and what he's saying in this amazing exortation to this world we have to focus on what's fair and what's just. >> we're talking about the pope

not david simon. >> david simon said we're not paying attention. the pope is saying this indifference is really the dominating factor of our time right now. >> it's ruining us. look the sound bite that i started the show with, with rand paul and i know our reaction might have been a little heated, but -- >> your reaction. >> it's amazing how -- i don't even know if indifferent is the word, disconnected with reality. >> david simon used the word juvenile in his piece. i'll tell you what's juvenile. what's juvenile is believing that if you just have a top down trickle down government approach, that somehow that will cure all this social ills as well steve rattner. this takes, unfortunately, a lot of hard work. it takes -- the fusion of different ideas, because, yes -- >> fusion is not happening. >> we all agree that just this

drip down, this sort of let them eat cake, ayn rand idea we've seen where it leads. we've seen where the government leads and top down approach. >> i agree with you. you have to find a mix. capitalism is a system that's created more wealth on a national basis than any other system in the history of mankind and can continue to. but capitalism can knot exist unfettered. it needs regulation. it needs supervision. it needs something that's become a dirty word in the democratic party or at least in both parties to some degree it needs redistribution. governments since 1789, our government has engaged in a form of redistribution. people pay taxes and that money goes to help a variety of people some whom may be other people. we lost sight of that. when food stamps can go from $25

to $33 for a family, when incomes are going down 15%, nobody wants to talk about the minimum wage, that's where we've gone too far the other way. >> let's be specific. we're talking about new york city because of this piece. mayor de blasio comes in and talks about this. what can he do? >> he ran on it, on a very specific idea which is that every child should have the ability to have a place in pre-k or have an after school program so that they can learn, be safe. the amount that's required to do that is tiny and he proposed a tiny, tiny surcharge on incomes above $500,000. this is the test of the most basic decency. he put it on the table very clearly. we have to help our kids. the richest have to do just a tiny bit to make this possible.

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co-chairs of no labels former republican governor of utah and former republican presidential candidate jon huntsman and senator from west virginia, senator joe manchin and co-founder of no labels and former adviser to george w. bush mark mckinnon. what's the look he's sporting? >> i don't know, man. look at these guys. this is what my grandma in dalton, georgia would call gracious plenty. >> i'm not done. >> jesus has provided for me this morning. >> i'm not done. to add we have sam stein in washington. >> whatever. >> hey, sam. i love you. to show you how humorless people are on twitter i have people telling me three, four times a week why are you being mean to sam stein. they don't realize it's love. >> my mom is one of those people.

she's reaching out. she's concerned. >> i invited your mother to come to my christmas party and she didn't come. so, you know what? there were people there that wanted to meet her and love her because she's one of the best doctors in connecticut. you know what your mother told me. she said go hell, joe scarborough. >> my mother came all the way from virginia. >> it's an unbreakable samuel jackson reference you made. underappreciated. >> nobody else got the unbreakable thing. if the guy jumps up on the box and is that's his leg it's the samuel jackson -- >> easiest sport in the world. more mike allen. >> underrated movie. >> i got to talk to my friend. they are all my friends. >> go for it. >> i got to talk to my friend about football. what is your brother doing? >> brother is saving. he had a rough day. >> by the way, proving --

>> still the best. >> oh, my god. not a close second. he does prove alabama. won three national championships. and i think messy call. >> not in a row. not consecutively. >> he'll win three more. >> yeah. >> is he going to stay? >> i believe so. absolutely. if not i want him to come back to west virginia. >> he's coming to texas. >> so florida state, auburn, alabama, michigan state, stanford. michigan state had a great win against ohio state but what is texas going to do? i know you're a hippie, but you follow football too, right? >> we'll have a new coach next year. we already got a new athletic director. >> you guys just throw money. $10 million a year for a coach. you guys have so much cash out there. how is w doing? >> w is doing great. he's healthy as ever.

back on the bike. kicking it hard. >> you know, all this mandela news last week just brought up, brought up something that his story is to write about. you hear from a guy who was tougher on george w. bush over eight years than anybody. >> i remember. >> but this whole mandela, passing of nelson mandela, we focused on what actually, bono and people that had been obsessed on african, all the aids workers there. george w. bush did more for africa than any president in the country's history. it's remarkable. >> yeah. it's a true legacy for george w. bush, saved millions of people. saved the continent. >> i want to play eric cantor piece. eric is a friend of mine. no rand paul. rand paul. here's what rand paul said.

we're talking about extending unemployment benefits. mika and i have been going back and forth a little bit. i don't think this is the smartest thing in the world to say. might be a little harsh. for a party -- >> i do support unemployment benefits for the 26 weeks that they are paid for. if you extend it beyond that you do a disservice to these workers. there was a study that came out a few months ago and it said if you have a worker that's been unemployed for four weeks and on unemployment insurance and one on 99 weeks which would you hire? every employer nearly 100% said they will always hire the person whose been out of work four weeks. when you allow people to be on unemployment insurance for 99 weeks you cause them to be this perpetually unemployed group in our economy. >> the french translation for this, by the way, let them eat cake. i understand the argument. i understand intellectually the argument. it's a debate we had during

welfare reform. but as i said an hour ago my danielle adams was unemployed for a year and a half. and he was working to get a job every single day. and, you know, we needed that money. >> that was then. >> i know. the recession -- is this recession not worse than other recessions. we shouldn't go around talking like that on national shows? >> you gave us the french translation i'll give you the china translation and that this is language that's suitable for the republican primary plain and simple. this isn't the language that's good for all americans and gets us closer to solving the problem, it's about politics and that's the broader issue that we're all about here with no labels, and that is in this long streak of pessimism this country has faced, the longest in our nation's history what will we do to come together? republicans, democrats, independents and start finding

solutions? not words, not sound bites, not fingerprinting ining acrimony. >> it seems republicans are getting that message. eric cantor at the advance in virginia actually talking about how, what i've been saying for 15 years which is if we don't connect conservatism to middle america, to kitchen table values -- >> that's right. >> -- then democrats will keep beating us and it seems that eric cantor is on the same page that you and i have been on for a very long time. >> we have a problem in this country called structural unemployment and it's probably worse than ever since the great depression. we got to do something about structural unemployment. we left a lot of people behind. the only way to deal with that is rebuilding the opportunity ladder and give people a way up. the republicans own that narrative and the policies that

go with that. why we're not talking about it in those terms. >> mark mckinnon, we have been over ideological, we've been talking to ourselves now for a decade. we've been talking to ourselves and just starting to realize if we want to win elections nationally, we have to talk to other people. >> have to have an affirmative agenda. any republican president that has won has had an affirmative agenda. this country doesn't have a national strategic objective. there's no goals. you can't agree with one another until you realize and come together and talk about what your objectives are. we're spending last night, today with our 87 members of congress and over half a million representatives across the country talking about going through a process to set up a national strategic objective. we want to agree on some goals. as the governor talks about he's worked in four countries and only one didn't have a national strategic agenda. >> only one that doesn't have a

national set of strategic goals, this one. >> bobby jindal asked me to go out to the republican governor's association. went out. talked to a couple of panels. had dinner there. i was stunned. i was stunned that these republican governors were all talking solutions. i'm sure democratic governors are doing the same thing. haley said we can't afford to shut down the government. i was blown away by how positive and forward thinking they were. how they worked with democrats because they had to work with democrats. man, talk about being a governor and then being a senator and is it getting any better? >> well, it's hard to compare any job to governor. that's one of the better jobs in the country. jon and i became very close friends working through the national governor's association. it wasn't a republican or democrat problem. we found somebody that had a fix

whether it's education, highways, helping the elderly or veterans. we would call each other and said how did do you that. he would say try this. we're missing that. it's difficult. it's so highly charged from the standpoint of, there's so much money coming at it. you get rewarded for bad behavior. >> so, i commend eric cantor for his nice comments over the weekend saying the party needs to be united airlines and need to come up with solutions. you've been saying that for six years. with all due respect. what alternative? >> let me say, i'm glad he's saying it. >> wonderful. >> other people will say it. aren't you guys set up a governor's caucus. >> it's in the senate. we have one former governor in the house. but 11 former governors in the senate. we did. we started a governor's caucus and it's almost evenly split.

get your financial house in order. if you can afford to pay for something you can afford to do a lot of things. we've talked about that. as governors the first thing we're asked the day you get sworn in here's your revenue estimate. what are your priorities. we don't have that. we're talking about no labels here a shared vision. in west virginia we call it a vision shared. labor. management. republicans, democrats. liberals. conservatives. you got to share a vision for this country. if you share that vision you'll find commonality. >> how many continuing resolutions did you have as a governor. >> never heard the word as a governor. >> washington is governed by one crisis after another. >> i tell you there's a way out and this thing with no labels and people can go to nolabels.org to read about it. you need two things. you need an infrastructure of republicans and democrats who are willing to put aside ego and the interest of the next election cycle and focus on the next generation, country before

party. we got 90 people in our problem solvers caucus who are meeting every week and doing just that. it's an unbelievable thing. if you can match that with the national strategic agenda which we'll be putting a framework together for the next year what does this country need to get right whether you're a democrat or a republican. we built the highways under eisenhower. you had big goals when you were in congress. reagan embarked on tax reform. we had a balanced budget for four years one clinton when he worked with speaker gingrich. things are doable when you articulate those goals. >> speak of continuing resolutions there's just one week left before lawmakers head home for the holidays. budget negotiators are up against the clock. patty murray and paul ryan is reportedly inching closer to a deal on a 2014 budget. the temporary funding bill agreed to until after october

shutdown expires next month. republican senator rob portman said he's optimistic there will be a short term agreement. >> i agree. >> the key is we don't have another government shutdown, we keep the spending cuts in place, we don't raise taxes and we can accomplish that over the next couple of days. >> joe, is a deal in the works? >> i understand it is and i under it will be short term. not more than two years. i guess that's the best we're going to get. we need to sit down and come to grips we need at that long term deal, a long term solution. the bowles-simpson, it started bipartisan, stayed bipartisan and grown bipartisan. we know it's difficult but it will fix our financial problem. >> sam stein what are you hearing? >> i'm hearing about the short term deal. can they close it? they are looking at spending a trillion dollars in the next

fiscal year an elevation from the 967 billion that they were supposed to have. the question is how do you pay for that difference. that's why they are struggling to mind common ground. the latest proposals is to take pension money from federal workers and from military personal to help pay for that difference and i can't imagine it would be too political popular to raid pensions of military personnel but that's because revenue is always off the table. so the question is can you find that money to pay for sequester relief. they seem optimistic they can do it. i'm not sure if the final details will be too hard. the senators probably know better. >> senator >> the devil is in the details. let me tell you, we went to the shutdown the last time. i never thought we would come to a shut down or dome the bring of a default. with that we had 14 of us, susan collins, myself and a lot of our good friend, republicans and democrats sat down and craft this. work with the no labels type

mentality across with charlie dent and some of them finding out what they could do and would do. we were prepared to move forward. that was the template used to stop the shut down. we're still engaged. we can come up with something. that's why there's a month gap. december 13th to january 15th. january 15th is when the sequestration of 967 comes into play. 967 billion. that's what they are trying to avoid. the military takes the deepest hit this year. everybody wants to avoid that. only way you can avoid is get a budget. >> do republicans start moving away from sequestration because military -- >> i think so. both the sequestration and the experience of the fall shutdown sobered up enough republicans. >> don't you sense that? >> i do. >> i actually think the government shutdown, i think the shock of the government shutdown, i think the collapsing poll numbers after the government shutdown, i think

that was the wake up call. >> but why does that even have to happen? it's like telling a child not to put their hand on a hot pot. >> they handed them a hot stove and they learned what we learned in '95 and '96. >> a big part of it is lack of leadership. big part is pandering. here's the reality of where we sat. i'm glad joe manchin is where he is he's a problem southeasterly. this economy wants to grow. the private-sector wants to invest. we're still 20% of the world's gdp and almost as if the private-sector is dig a trench around washington and finding its own way forward. >> isn't that amazing? washington is the problem. we have so many things to be excited about in this country, we have an energy revolution that's going on, the i.t. revolution continues, we dominate in silicon valley and

as you know manufacturing is coming back to this country, low energy costs over the next five to ten years, the fact that we're the most productive people on the planet, but for washington, d.c.'s dysfunction we would be zooming forward. this is the american century. this is the new american century if washington can just figure it out. >> what an indictment our growth has a two in front of it as opposed to a three or four which is possible. >> the american public has some hope and faith that here we are no label problem solvers, republicans, democrats, independents. they are willing to put their country before themselves or their party. that's what it's about. we'll find some fixes. >> hope is on the way. >> hope is on the way. >> they are killing the snowy owl at jfk. >> mika is concerned about bigger issues right now. jon, it's always great to see you. >> former governor jon huntsman, senatorory manchin.

thank you very much. great to see you. mark mckinnon stay with us if you can. up next "fortune" magazine out with a special investor guide. leigh gallagher explains where the smart money is in the year ahead. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. it targets fine lines and wrinkles with the fastest retinol formula available. you'll see younger looking skin in just one week. one week? that's just my speed. rapid wrinkle repair. and for dark spots rapid tone repair. from neutrogena®.

♪ joining us now, "fortune" magazine assistant managing editor and author of the book "the end of the suburbs" leigh gallagher, dr. jeffrey sachs and steve rattner back with us as well. leigh, let's go through the investors guide 2014. we kind of have a lot of different strains of economy stories going through this show. we went from talking poverty and minimum wage with dr. sachs to teasing the investors guide and almost laughed in the middle of it because it's such an extreme. >> it is. it's a tale of two economies as you all have spoken about here

many times. you know, people on main street are still suffering unless they are in silicon valley. people in the stock market is continuing to set new records and what we say in our investors guide is that, you know, the time to be most fearful is when everyone is blissfully unconcerned and that want seems to be the case with the market these days. there's no sort of kind of -- it's very exuberant. >> warren buffett has this great expression you should be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful. but there's been 23 years since 1927 when the dow has gone up over 20% in a single year and in those years the next year on average the dow still has gone up another 6.4%. >> that's interesting. a lot of people think this can

continue in2014. if we're due for a correction it may not happen until 2015. everything is dependent on what the fed does and what the stimulus -- when that gets pulled back. >> we should remember the recent warnings of this year's nobel prize winner who said we're reaching valuations that are so high that this looks, again, like one of those bubbles that comes to an end and not only did he get the nobel prize but he's called it right repeatedly and he said the warning signs are flashing. that's logical giving the fact that the fed has been pumping liquidity out for years. that's pumped up the stock market value and there needs to be a lot of caution. >> the other thing, it's very hard to predict trends. in three years you can say the market will look higher or lower but to said will happen on

february 14th is very hard to do. >> you can lose a lot of money trying to play that game. that's why we try to focus -- we pick stock picks from fund managers with strong, long term results. you want to try to avoid the what's going to happen tomorrow and you want to buy stocks that will let you sleep at night. so we pick people with great track records and looked at some of their picks for 2014. >> i think i got them here. vitamin shoppe. >> it's interesting. that's a smaller stock. but, you know, this is a play on the whole holistic health trend. and same store sales have been threatened last year but a lot of people think it's an opportunity now. >> you got target, pepsico. >> target suffered this year because it stumbled getting into

canada and that's got it under performing relative to the market. so the fund manager we talked to think this is a great opportunity. target consumers have higher income, they buy more. so it's looking like a good play right now. the other one you mentioned was pepsico. this is a pick by don who has a wonderful record. he's a slow and steady investor. this is a stock that will let you sleep at night when the winds blow. solid performance. between dividends and stock buy backs it returns 4.5 to 5%. pepsi has been at the forefront in pushing into healthier foods. been very forward thinking about that. that's a good one. and volkswagen. it has lagged its competitors. it has a lot of new products in store for next year. investors expect to it pull up a bit. >> what do you make of all this, steve? there's so many people -- is that they don't have anything else to do with any money they

have? where else would you invest at this point? >> i think this is what jeffery was referring to. one of the things that's clearly driving the stock market your can't earn anything on cash. treasuries pay approximately zero in the short run. people see stock market go up 23% in a year and get tempted. this is when you get -- >> that's the point. that's the strings that's being pulled. that's what we're supposed to do. what investors are supposed to do. >> really? >> what ben bernanke wants people to do is go into the stock market. but when is it too much, what are the fundamentals. >> dr. sachs, final thoughts. >> be careful. >> well said. >> fortune's investors guide is out now. leigh stay with us if you can. dr. sachs thank you very much. up next bob filner will be back in court today. the punishment awaiting the

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the obamas leave for south

africa to join 50 world leaders to pay tribute to nelson mandela. george bush and his wife will join them aboard air force one. bill clinton and jimmy carter are set to attend as well. it's a big test for africa's government as they plan the memorial. 94,000 people are expected at fnb stadium home to the world cup final in 2010. 100,000 more expected in the area at overflow sports centers while many details were worked out well in advance politico reporting the last minute logistics for the secret service are daunting. the president's security won't have control over access and there are concerns on everything from the motorcade route to his safety once inside. meanwhile, sunday marked an official day of prayer across south africa but in church the scene was as remember celebratory as it was mournful. and a week after the deadly commuter train wreck in new

york, officials are upgrading signals on the curve where the crash occurred. new signals are expected to be up and running this morning. four people were killed last sunday when a metro-north train hit a stretch of track at nearly three times the speed limit. metro-north is now reducing the maximum speeds at 26 locations across its system. an attorney for the engineer operating the train says his client became dazed right before the crash. over the next year every cab will be out fitted with an alerter system that protects driver inactivity. former san diego mayor bob filner will return to the spotlight dtoday as he's sentenced for false imprisonment. they are expected to recommend three months of home confinement and three years of probation. earlier the disgraced politician admitted to putting a woman in a head lock that led to the false

imprisonment charge. he admitted to kissing a woman on the lips without permission at a meet the mayor event. and grabbing another woman's buttocks. nearly 20 women have publicly identified themselves as targets of filner's unwanted advances. still ahead, secretary of state john kerry isn't the only member of his family with experience overseas. his daughter vanessa is here with new developments in her long time push to bring better medicine to developing nations. vanessa kerry next on "morning joe." (vo) you are a business pro.

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>> you're all over the place. >> i sat next to your danielle adams at the world series and he started chilling for you, shamelessly. incredibly proud. >> very kind of him. >> i started looking into it, yeah, you don't need him. here with us now, ceo -- >> let's show the picture again. this is a great example of how so easily i'm bought off. you sit next to me at a sox and you start talking to me and i won't talk about the iran deal. >> it's not john kerry. >> the greatest secretary of state ever. >> you're using up vanessa's time. >> we're us now ceo and founder of seed global health and a physician at massachusetts general hospital, dr. vanessa kerry. gee, she's got a little going on in her life. babies. she's a doctor. >> little crazy. >> and ceo of seed global health

which is amazing. >> number one, you go on a trip to vietnam and you're inspired. you want to make a difference in this area. tell us about it. >> so identify had an incredible unique experience to go to vietnam pre-embargo being lifted with my father and sister. my parents both have been very good about showing us sort of the breadth and depth of the united states in other parts of the world but identify never been exposed to the kind of poverty and decity toot in vietnam. >> not just lack of resources but you focused in on teaching technique, there's so many medical techniques in developing countries that we take for granted that developing countries need to be taught. >> that's what it developed into. as i became a doctor and spent time in other countries, the idea for seed of hope started e to germinate. if we could send doctors and nurses abroad to be educators,

build capacity and actually, you know, make point for there to be highly skilled doctors and nurses who continue teaching then we could help provide a more sustainable solution so one doctor we train will go on to train ten more. it's building a long term solution. we're not just going deliver care we'll build capacity, build skills and make this continue without us. it's training program. >> exactly. we have 30 volunteers in tan zanna, malawi and uganda. we support their team. they deploy peace corps volunteers. 50 year experience of sending americans abroad in an integrated and culturally sensitive way. we provide technical capacity for technical and nursing aspect. we provide loan repayment and debt repayment to make point for these americans to do a service program. this year we're helping 27 of our 30 volunteers off set debt.

these volunteers would not be able to do this work if we weren't doing that and they are remarkable the stories they are telling us. >> i think i heard your danielle adams say over the weekend when he was talking about nelson mandela, mandela had a profound impact on you and mentioned you by name and had an impact on your decision. >> nelson mandela is certainly been a huge influence in my life. there are few people who have a vision for, i think, what the world can be. and i think has demonstrated taking lifetime to give yourself in service and my colleagues and i seek to help the peace corps and all the volunteers are embodying every day as they do their work. >> i love the practical aspect of this too because you talk about how doctors can become better doctors by working without all the technology, going out into other countries. they learn to have instincts and

diagnose better? >> yes. so there's actually research that shows individuals who work abroad get a better sense of clinical diagnosis so not relying on a ct scan which i rely on all time. they get a better sense of clinical diagnosis, better history taking and they one some of the key aspects that go into health that are not just about getting infected with a contagious disease but poverty and other things like that. >> so by helping others they help themselves, help their patients and sounds like they become more intuitive as doctors. >> they do. they are more likely to come back to the united states and serve in underserved areas. >> seed global health. something everyone should look into and help out dr. vanessa kerry. >> how do people help. where do they go? >> volunteers or people who want to support us and we deeply rely

on support. they should go to our website. google seed global health. >> on twitter. >> their support will go a long way in making investments and ensure our volunteers can continue to go because they have debt relief and help them. >> great work. thank you so much. >> coming up can america's national team survive the so-called group of death. who is that? what's going on. lewis, really? >> all right. >> we'll be right back. ♪

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an icy morning around new york city, southern new england lots of school delays, school cancellations. new york city looks fine. all wet and the pavement is the dry. top of our building some 60 stories up look at the ice accumulation on top of the rock there, looks like a good quarter, half an inch of ice. just shows a little bit of elevation, temperatures are much colder and that's why the suburbs outside of the big cities are dealing with major ice problems this morning especially those areas that didn't get the snow. some areas reporting just black ice covering things including southern new york, much of the connecticut region that's where they are having the worst conditions and a lot of car

accidents. the blue line on this map shows you where it's 32 degrees. that line has slowly been going to north. areas that are icy now including southern new england will improve later. the worst of the freezing rain shown in the pink here is now starting to move and push towards boston. boston is 34. you'll be fine. the suburbs will be colder. 28 there in albany. starting to improve things around washington, d.c. and you'll head up to the low 40s. drive home will be no problem. dangerously cold in the middle of the country. we just can't catch a break. this arctic air reinforces itself. minus 28 in fargo, north dakota. that's cold. even vegas has a wind chill of 20 this morning. we're cold all the way to the west coast. little bit of rain this afternoon that will be end in areas of new york and boston. disagreement how much snow will come tomorrow, mika but it does look like after a clear tonight areas tomorrow morning at this time from d.c. to philly and new york, we'll get another coating

of snow possibility maybe one or two inches. >> thank you, bill. >> it's kind of like -- if the beatles ever got back together, this would be kind of what it feels like. >> what are you talking about? >> he's back. >> i tried to leave and he wouldn't let me go. >> roger is back. >> can i do the intro. >> let me do it for you. >> we're in the group of death. roger, those you think even though we're in -- first of all, how do you react to this? >> well i couldn't have gone any more difficult but it's a huge opportunity. it's obviously a big challenge. big names. you know you face ghana that has a history of us. portugal. a good team. germany one of the top favorites for winning the world cup. but it is what is it. >> he's come home the prodigal

son. soccer analyst, roger bennett. men in blazers unbuttoned is now the top comedy album in america. >> what? okay. >> that's what i call suboptimal. roger the group of death. then they are playing germany. a little bit luke skywalker darth vader. >> that would be the greatest

achievement. >> the teams they play, the u.s. has been hand ad draw in this country brazil which is more of a continent and going 9,000 miles often days. playing three games. playing in the amazon jungle, rain forest conditions, playing in 98 degree heat in the northeast. >> 9,000 miles travel. horrible. >> like the "hunger games." >> really is. >> the denver broncos, boston red sox and then the miami heat in ten days.

you talking about england? we will play ghana and we will win. we could tie portugal and we hope that germany will have tied up the group and we will be. >> we have to beat ghana. >> they were all different. >> america has a force in soccer. the queen of world football. the currency you believed in and it's taking hold. he wanted to show the world this was quite a test. it could be worse. it could be england. they are in a group with italy and uruguay. they will be home before their postcards. the only question sell they get a nasty sunburn or avoid it?

>> not making friends in liverpool either? >> he is playing and he's the first manager to play in this amazonian capital. he said we don't care who we play. we want to avoid playing. they talked and said we want respectable team who is have good manners and good football. those men were right and got what they didn't want. >> can they pull this off? the logistics are complicated. it's not a city or a country that works. >> my goodness. >> that's a collapsed stadium two weeks ago. one of the buildings perished. very few stadiums are ready. fifa is very concerned. the infrastructure and the air travel and hotels are quite awful. >> south africa in 2010 was

rough too. >> this is rougher. >> and 2018? >> they have the hat trick of darkness. russia that is grappling with racism and qatar. let's not even go there. this world cup sparked national protest last year and the millions they spent on the stadium. >> they are not going to be ready. the cup, they played games with tear gas hovering over the stadium. it's one to one. if you are an american fan, have your hands over your ice. >>. >> let's talk about that. did you have a question? >> that's okay. >> first of all, something we haven't talked in a while. so many things to talk about. i think the two big story, liverpool is doing much better

and man u. how bad does it get and how much longer does he stay there? >> 11 years he shot big time. he came to manchester united. like getting the keys to the car and driving it into the size of the garage. they have massive brands piling on. the leash is very, very tight. they don't pay big money to be associated with the team. >> does he survive the year? >> no way he survives the year. >> they are closer to relegation. >> my heart breaks for him. he's like 20 years in six months. i take no pleasure in it at all. >> a little bit of pleasure. >> liverpool owned by the boston red sox. they wore glory firmly in the past and invested and built this franchise up and they are in second place and doubtedly the story of the season. are they good?

no. >> they good? >> unpredictable. they have one wonderful player, louie suarez. >> sturridge is great. they have a great team. >> suarez is racest and a cannibal and he bites people on the field. he looks like ann hathaway. >> spoken like a bitter -- it's your turn to do a header. >> this is where you win the world cup. >> boom. we'll be right back with more "morning joe." thank you, roger.

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>> it's 8:00 on the east coast and 5:00 on the west coast. back with us on set, we like bad weather. howard dean and in washington sam stein. we begin with millions of americans waking up to a messy mixture of sleet and freezing rain, making the commute to work this morning very tricky for many in the northeast. let's go to bill with how things are looking right now. >> we continue to watch the freezing rain and in pennsylvania, new jersey, connecticut and upstate new

york. a lot of school delays and cancellations. we are doing okay. temperatures have risen in areas like new york. 38 and philadelphia 36. what did come down as snow or freezing rain overnight turned over to rain and that's why the runways and the highways are doing okay. a lot of cold air in chicago. 22 degrees and snow showers. here's the radar and the worst by far is up to the north around boston to providence. not in the cities, but the suburbs. springfield to hartford and new haven northward. a lot of reports of quarter inch to about an eighth of an inch ice. we can't catch a break. another blast of arctic air moves across. 9 degrees in kansas city. it's warmer in alaska than many spots in the lower 48.

fairbanks should not be 31 to start the early morning. the coldest air not northern hemisphe hemisphere that cold air will sweep over the east. new york city and philly and d.c. tomorrow morning at this time. st. louis is a cold one. it will stay that way all week. back to you. >> all right, bill. thanks. we will be back in touch with you. noe today's "new york times" talks about the city's homeless, particularly children. this is wocone of 22,000 homele children in new york. half near at or below the hoff efforty line. 20% of kids nationwide.

congress is debating whether to extend jobless benefits to the long-term unemployed. without action, 1.3 million people will lose the emergency assistance. senator rand paul said the best way to get workers back on their feet is to limit the government's role in helping them. >> i do support unemployment benefits for the 26 weeks they are paid for. if extend that you do a disservice to the workers. there was a study that came out that said if you have a work they're has been unemployed for four weeks and that is on 99 weeks, which would you hire? nearly 100% said they hire the person who has been out of work four weeks. when you allow people unemployment for 99 weeks, you cause them to be part of this perpetual unemployed group in our economy. >> what's wrong with him?

i'm sorry. you have to speak. i'm sorry. >> do i have to speak? >> yes, please. interrupt me. >> i can only tell you that -- >> that made no sense. >> crazy. >> that made no sense. that was crazy. i'm sorry. i had to say that carefully. crazy. >> a u.s. senator crazy? >> someone, you went to brown -- you went to where? >> never mind. >> all these educated people on the set, what is he trying to say. >> i went to alabama. i can probably explain it better. we are not good at math. that cuts like a knife. >> me what is the concept -- >> we don't know how to kick a field goal on the 15 yard line. >> it was a great game.

>> anyone here ever been on unemployment? >> we don't kick a 15 yard field goal. let me just say there were a lot of people, i will say two things so you can't jump on me after i say the first thing. i hate to be harold ford here, but everyone told us when we tried to pass welfare reform and limit the number of weeks or months or years and we were the most cold hearted hateful people and young children would starve and grandmothers would be thrown out in the snow. we were called the most heartless people of all time and we passed it over two bill clinton vetoes and most everybody said that it was a great success. even people who said the most heinous people. that was a good point. that's one side of the argument.

the other side is that -- this is not bad. this is something i'm debating between myself. stop acting show shocked and stunned. >> i'm trying to understand. >> i just explained the first part. people said we were hateful human beings in 1996 when we actually ended welfare. >> i was in favor of welfare reform and we did it. >> his second part of it, really quickly, this is a recession unlike most recessions and i can tell you when my father was unemployed in the recession in the early 1970s and he was getting $40 a week from mississippi for unemployment benefits and one bag of groceries and fill up one tank of gas. if somebody had told us over that year and a half, my dad was driving around with all of us trying to find a new job, if someone said we will do you a

favor and cutoff your unemployment benefits, we would say thank you so much, but we're good. i was going to say my dad was working his as off. we didn't have summer vacation. we drove around trying to find a job. we couldn't afford it. when he says what he says, as a member of the republican party who would like to get back into the white house, we need to be more careful about how we say those things. howard, there two sides of this debate and we have to balance the decision. >> the problem with people like rand paul may not be his republican republicanism, but his privileged position. i did welfare reform, but not quite the gingrichian animosity. >> it works.

>> it did and it did reduce welfare by half and in general that was a good thing and we allowed them to get credit for school and better themselves. i would agree with your second argument. this is about a recession. we are still not back to the number of jobs we had in 2008. to cut people off is crazy. i think cutting the food stamps is crazy. if you are worried that people are cheating, put in more regulations. vermont got fined for not being tough enough. i have no problem with that, but let's not cutoff food stamps. you think this girl on the front page of the "new york times," we are talking about poverty here. you lose your job and you are 55 years old, you are not getting another chance at a job. >> you are not. >> "new york times" reports poverty rates are at all time highs. there have been a lot of times

in the past where i have been opposed to extending unemployment and throughout most of my adult life, this is a different kind of recession. >> it is and this article right here by andrea elliott, everybody ought to take a minute at the end of the day and read it. it's precisely why bill deblasio was elected. this is the tale of two cities. you have charts here, but it goes to affordable housing and there so many elements to the story. it's not a new york city story. it's a national story. in five american children live in poverty. >> you have a number of things that come to create it. a terrible recession and the rising income and equality and it's fine for wealthy people to get wealthier, but the people at the bottom have gotten poorer. we have a reduction of food stamps because we can't agree on a farm bill.

this is part of this. you have gotten the minimum wage. >> you can't live on it. >> a bunch of things have come in a perfect storm for the people at the bottom. they feel very picked upon and rightly so. >> you agree that you have to make work pay to get people to work. >> you are asking people to work to pay for something they can't afford to support their family on. that's not how welfare reform works. >> i agree. republicans can certainly make the argument that we are where we are four years later because barack obama's policies have made things worse. if we want to make that argument, we can, but it's harder for us. it does not help us with swing voters to say we will do you guys a favor. we will cutoff your unemployment benefits. >> i don't think that sells. it doesn't. >> it's not a good message.

your first chart is 7 and 1/4. say you get 40 hours a week at 52 weeks, that is $16,000 a year, below the poverty line. >> one of the ways people push back against people at the bottom is by focusing on the minimum wage. it's now $7.25 as you can see here on this chart. it's not oddly enough the lowest it has been. you can see back in the 1960s around around $9.50. oddly enough president bush's administration that pushed the increase that took it back up to $7.25. it has been declining in real terms since then. because of what we have been talking about, there has been a push behind getting a living

wage or minimum wage passed. nothing much is happening in washington. president obama was in favor of a $9 minimum wage and now in favor of a $10.10 minimum wage. not a lot going on. in the states, you can see there is a lot more going on. california recently passed a bill to take the minimum wage from $8 to $10. the highest in the country. new york, connecticut, new jersey follows through. in the district of columbia, they are about to pass legislation that takes it up over $11. you want to avoid the effect if you raise it one place, wal-mart threatened not to. this is the issue about jobs. this is a controversial subject. you have to see it again in the context. the bottom fifth of american families have lot of 15% of the real income since the year 1999. these are hurting people.

>> and this is the issue from extending unemployment benefits. progressives have always been pushing for higher minimum wages and conservatives have been talking about keeping minimum wage down low. i will tell you that a lot of conservative push back came on capitol hill. that's the worst time to raise minimum wage because between that and the new health care act, you are going to cost jobs. this makes people very angry. i went out shopping this weekend and started my christmas shopping this weekend and like every business owner, i go to local businesses. how are you doing? how's your job and your business? it's flat out there. they talk about affordable care

act and they talk about what all small business owners talk about. taxes and regulations. talk about what you hear on the hill and what you are hearing at the white house. is there a chance to pass minimum wage through the senate? >> the minimum wage talk is you hear it more to the side than the unemployment talk. when minimum wage hiked in the bush year, it was 2007 and the country had not gone through a recession yet and even then it took a huge amount of capital to get it through. a famous senator on the senate really pushed the bill over the top and ended up getting it through. that was where we are now. i don't hear much optimism that we'll get to $10.10. you hear more about that. with respect to unemployment insurance, you are starting to

see the debate heat up because it comes at a cruel time. it would be after christmas, december 28th. you had about 1.3 million people losing benefits. the question is, how do you pay for it? in the past it wasn't always paid for. $25 billion. the budget negotiations are trying to figure out if they can find money to pay for that $25 billion year long extension and if you need to scale back the length and how many weeks you can get benefits. there is a lot of pressure and moving parts. >> or you could just do what senator rand paul wants. a christmas miracle. as mid-terms approach, party leaders are trying to shore up on unified fronts to mixed results. house majority leader eric kantor urged republicans to feel

comfortable over kitchen table issues. if we want to win, we must begin to offer solutions to problems people face every day. this is very -- yeah. when our pert is not united and we fail to offer a plan that connects with people and the problems we are having, we lose at the ballot box. when we lose, we get policies like obama care. cantor said republicans fail to hold a single statewide office in virginia. the last time that happened was 1969, the same year neal armstrong walked on the moon. there signs that the unified front of the democratic party may be crack. a week ago a "wall street journal" oped from a centrist think tank called third way targeted bill deblasio and elizabeth warren saying economic populism will be disastrous for

democrats. they warn that senator warren's plan to expand social security and medicare by raising taxes and closing corporate loopholes is a dead end for democrats. liberal groups supporting warren are pushing back, calling on democratic members of congress who serve as chairs for the group to disavow the piece. >> it will be interesting. republicans seem to be really starting to -- well, it would be more unified after the disaster of the government shut down. we saw eric cantor where no republican holds a statewide office since 1969. >> he has been fanning the social issues. you have the tea party problem. i was on a radio show where you served with a terrific guy. a republican and a woman from the tea party who is running against pete sessions with a

100% conservative record and runing for the right. he's got the rhetoric and we don't really have a problem. they stuck it to -- >> the democratic party will go further and further away. this is awesome. i love that you guys will dart this. >> this is the straw man stuff. >> not the straw man. we are talking about bill deblasio and mainstream democrats who try to move the party back to the center. >> you are making this stuff up. >> i'm not making tup. it was in the "new york times." >> blah blah blah blah blah. >> you sit here with your team party nonsense and then the second i talk about -- i was talking to so and so in a barber's chair and they said it was really bad.

i bring up a "new york times" article and you greek out saying i'm making stuff up. >> the first of two points. >> before we get too far ahead into virginia, the next candidate up was mark warner. a centrist democrat and very popular in virginia. it will be a while. >> he's not going to have challenges from the left. >> secondly, howard and i would be happy to engage in a short debate. while i don't think taking on some of those people by name and being personal was ideal, the points were right. you cannot have a party that is proposing all kinds of things we can't pay for. >> expanding medicare at a time when medicare and medicaid is going bankrupt. >> it's not the same thing. >> expanding entitlements. that sure is great.

why don't we go to a-daywork week. the democratic party has a move. >> that was a problem. >> of course it is because you are a left winger too. >> he's no longer a player. because he did what the 30 way d. >> not for al fram. >> that are is ridiculous if not for bill clinton. >> what are makes me sad when democrats like this fight and they are proving the point that you don't agree with the hard left wing of the party that my dear friend howard dean represents, you get attacked. >> good luck. >> you are scared. >> i'm scared. i think bill clinton put our party where it belongs. >> like that.

>> i want us to stay there. >> coming up on "morning joe," hillary clinton racked up nearly a million miles as secretary of state. she doesn't have a lot of diplomatic wins to show for it. that's next in the political playbook. before using her new bank of america credit card, which rewards her for responsibly managing her card balance. before receiving $25 toward her balance each quarter for making more than her minimum payment on time each month. tracey got the bankamericard better balance rewards credit card, which fits nicely with everything else in life she has to balance. that's the benefit of responsibility. apply online or visit a bank of america near you. it's been that way since the day you met.

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>> let's take a look at the morning papers from the parade of papers. the l.a. times, ukraine's president is facing a 48 hour

deadline to disband his government. they toppled a statue of vladimir lenin, from the soviet union. they will target his home left if he doesn't disband the government. they don't like his decision from the union trade deal to keep close ties with russia. >> "the chicago tribune" from the 2013 kennedy center honorees were celebrated in washington. they include billy joel and carlos santana and herbie hancock. president obama joked with shirley maclaine over fascinations with aliens and area 51. >> one of the questions people ask you is what's really going on at area 51. when i wanted to know, i called shirley maclaine.

i think i just became the first president to ever publicly mention area 51. >> "usa today" and men from louisiana woke up from his nap to find he was left on board his flight. after three dozen passengers exited the plane, somehow express jets cabin crew did not notice the passenger tom wagner and left him in the plane at an airport in houston. >> that only happened to me twice. >> howard! >> that was hard to do because that's the atlantic ocean. i woke up in a car. that's true. >> that was last night. >> i woke up in a car. >> he called his girlfriend and

alerted the airline. they are investigating how this bizarre oversight occurred. >> that's a heavy slumber. >> bob dylan's electric guitar used to play in 1965. auctioned off for nearly $1 million, the highest price ever paid for a guitar at auction. the fender strat caster is widely considered one of the most iconic moments in rock. >> that was -- you put it down and you have elvis and the beatles. >> i think they are wrong. the highest price ever paid with paul allen's purchase and jimmy hendrix at woodstock. the price even back then because he put together the museum. how about that for trivia. >> very good. >> that's sort of like --

>> i'm talking. >> maybe it was the same night. that's where the problem was. >> that's interesting. i didn't know that. >> i'm worried about him. >> ready? treadmill injury? i'm with my trainer. that turns out that's very dangerous. she doesn't do this tigger move. we were on a box and turns out people do that all the time. i thought this was box jumping. it was. >> box jumping? >> broke a leg. just broke one bone. have this for a couple of weeks.

>> did you that jumping off a box? you are like that samuel l jackson character in unbreakable. you remember that? >> it's much better than having a sling or a cast. jim always makes fun of how i'm mr. optimism. i said the greatest thing happened. it's just a boot and for weeks not months. if you are going to get hurt, it's the best thing to happen. >> you jump off the box and landed wrong? >> yes. there is this box that you are supposed to leap up on. >> i did that in labor. >> it was better for you. >> random thoughts in your head. >> i hit the treadmill from now on. >> i'm doing an interview here. you are with this trainer and there is a box and you jump up on that box. what? >> i'm trying to avoid that part. >> what did you break? did you falloff?

>> i did. a little ankle bruise. ankle bone. >> it's an ankle thing. >> i will not be back on the box. i will ob the treadmill. >> it's a great sport. >> it's a broken toe bone. >> it's very good when you are trying to distract yourself. >> how sad. more people get injured doing that than automobile accidents. >> check aaa. >> fact checker. >> come on. i'm just joking. >> when i'm talking about it, they say that. do they really? if it's on the show, it's true. camels with us.

was hillary clinton a good secretary of state. what's the conclusion? >> the editor makes the point that people were reading about secretary clinton's record and how great it was, but now more and more people are saying secretary kerry accomplished more in less than a year than she did. >> who is driving that story? >> i'm curious. >> inside the state department. are people leaking that? i'm curious. >> people are looking at world events and they came together. they moved the ball in the mideast on iran and on syria. she didn't have the chance to have that move. >> wow.

you are a good guy. what did you make of eric cantor. it sounds like eric cantor and ted cruz is going to mandela's funeral. i think republicans are starting to look beyond their very small base and realize they have got to expand to win national elections. >> the cantor thing i thought was fascinating. talking to about 500 activists and eric cantor talks about how they need to fight democrats and not themselves. republicans need to talk to people where they are. 232 house republicans. 89% of them are white males. white males in the country, 36%. these republicans are dealing a little bit with that math problem trying to close that

gap. this meeting where eric cantor talked was called advanced. they don't want to retreat. also ed gilespie from the bush white house, we were talking about how mark warner is strong. he wants to run against him. he thinks it's winnable. he's looking at it. >> if he jumped in, that would be one of the hottest races in the country. mark warper will be the favorite. >> we will look at the playbook and cut that box jumping. >> i will give you a box jumping lesson. >> i'm in. >> thank, mike. coming up next, what do pope francis, ted and miley cyrus have in common. we will explain when we come back.

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>> welcome back to "morning joe." this wednesday, "time" magazine, two days now, their pick for the 2013 person of the year.

i'm going to miley cyrus. ten names in no particular order. iranian president rouhani. sath lean sebelius and amazon ceo. edith wind sor, miley cyrus. president obama and pope francis. >> it's a no brainer. pope francis. >> maybe miley cyrus will win the online polling, but i can't think of anybody who has been a bigger disruptor and had more influence around the world than this pope. business in washington can both take a huge lesson from him.

>> i agree completely. he is doing things his own way. >> and a good way. this may be an example of us cheering for a man that most of us love and respect and see positive things from. i can make an argument that the biggest disru79or and single person that had more influence on anybody else is edward snowden. if you are really looking at just one guy that caused more disruption than anybody else this year, the pope over 20 years. this year. you would be hard pressed to find somebody that had more of an impact. >> it is tough to be the fourth person. there only two names that pop out on the list. snowden in terms of shaping everyone's conversation, i feel like there is the catholic

conversation with the pope and people that are sort of maybe ivory towerish that get involved in the conversation. freedom of speech. everything in terms of what we -- >> what about the news stories that came from this one guy releasing one set of stories after another after another about how we run our government here and how we deal with relations across the globe. >> a guy you did not know about eye year ago. an average joe with a goatee. he is shaping the whole conversation. >> it's true that they want to put it on the person who changed the world the most for the better and not always for the better. they had stalin on the cover and they don't go for the good guys. they go for the biggest disruptor. >> what's fascinating if you took a poll, you would be especially talking about millennials. a lot of people would say i'm glad we know what we know

because of edward snoweden and one leak after another and we find out where our government has overreached more and more and you sit there going i'm glad we know this stuff. >> exactly. he's a hero to many. it would be a provocative thing because you find things are both sides of the argument. >> unlike daniel elsburg, he ran away instead of facing justices. >> can we go to why miley cyrus is on the list. this must be the person who had the most impact on the world. what's the ill? has she ruined our children? what's her impact? >> i would say it's potentially positive. we wonder with peopling talking about the degradation of culture and all over gossive magazines. people said ooh, that's the line. i thought that was interesting.

we almost got a little bit more after that happened. in some ways it's positive. >> it's funny. >> i think you were even talking about this. >> it's on the list ask this is fascinating to me. >> i'm talking about over the past several months. it's a desperate cry for attention. i'm not talking psychologically, but the smoke pot routine? seriously? it may have been edgy in 1968. >> i think she needs help. >> she doesn't need help. >> oh, yes she does. >> i had a car full of 14-year-olds the next day after that thing and they were all doing that. they all thought the lineup and i thought eew. >> just gross. ted is on the list. ted cruz had a huge impact. barack obama, sath lean

sebelius, jeff baso. >> managing editor nancy gibbs reveals time's person of the year. >> i don't have any inside being in the building. i claim nothing. i know nothing. >> a quick guess? >> i would guess pope francis. >> i will go with snowden. >> pope francis hans down. if they don't pick him, they are wrong. we will have michelle caruso cabrera. keep it here on "morning joe". bl

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time now for business before the bell. what do we got today? >> the market can go higher and what was remarkable about friday is we got good economic data on friday. that means wow, the fed is not going to be as easy. interest rates went up and yet stocks went up as well. we have a lot of market commentary and the marks can get beyond the fear of wising interest rates. the other big news is american airlines and us airways consummate the merger. it was a last minute attempt by 39 passengers who try to get the supreme court to stop it. that didn't happen. they are finally coming together and americans finally emerge from bankruptcy. the creditors look like pay back. will it take effect?

. >> fewer seats available. that's the whole story. that means they will be able to raise prices or fees in a former fashion. consumer do we want airlines to arrive and prices in bankrupt airlines. does that make sense some. >> the vocal rule might be coming to a vote this week. will it have teeth. the question is if you pulled positions in your portfolio and you can't trade them to try to make money, they will be there &

be a hedge for the clients and you hedge it, it's tough stuff for the average person. >> michelle caruso ka brer. >> it's going to have teeth and unintended consequences and something you need to do. >> what is unintent the consequences? >> it's going to save the behavior. it may reduce lending and profitability. >> they will try to find their way around it. >> coming up next, karzai strikes a deal with iran. we can't get out of that country fast enough. leave afghanistan now. we will talk about it when we return. [ male announcer ] this is jim,

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defense secretary chuck hagel did not meet with afghan president hamid karzai who is refusing to sign a security agreement. secretary hagel said it increases the likely head of complete withdrawal. >> you can use any term you want. retreat or not renewing our

efforts here post 2014. you can say it any way you want. unless we have the security of an agreement to protect our forces, we will have no choice. we will not be able to stay. >> while karzai had the idea of the u.s., he did sign a security agreement with iran's president. both leaders said the deal will increase security and minimize the influence of foreign forces. joe? >> i'm glad chuck hagel is over there and i hope he takes a tough line. he said it before. whether it's 2014 or 2034, we are going withdraw. afghanistan never works for us. occupying. does it? >> we need to find a way out and we are trying to do it as gracefully as we can. >> all right. >> i love it. >> up next, what if anything did we learn today?

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see who does good work and compare costs. it doesn't usually work that way with health care. but with unitedhealthcare, i get information on quality rated doctors, treatment options and estimates for how much i'll pay. that helps me, and my guys, make better decisions. i don't like guesses with my business, and definitely not with our health. innovations that work for you. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. >> you have got a problem. >> those ribs, i don't care if they are frozen or not. i love how they taste. >> that's not what i'm talking about. what did you learn?

>> the pope was ivory tower and talk shows. not true. everyone seems to be focused. the kids love the pope. the kids love the pope. miley cyrus a close second. >> the discussion about the "new york times" story with poverty and the government and what we should be doing to fix it. >> we need to talk more about that this time of year. >> i saw pink perform at the barclay center. invest in pink. it was a sold out crowd and 20,000 people. she's amazing. amazing. >> all right. it's going to be pope francis. >> i didn't go see pink, but i did go see frozen with my 5-year-old boy yesterday. it was great. it was a great holiday film. a nice cartoon and everyone should go see it. a sweet movie. love conquers all, baby.

just like you me. love conquers all. >> after you thank me for my patience. >> chuck todd is next. thank you for your patience. >> and the fight for control in 2014. what does this string of good news lately mean for both political parties's prospects. find out what a focus group thinks about our economic outlook. the latest on the winter storm that sacked the midwest and here in the mid-atlantic and northeast. millions prepare for yet more snow. a deep live into a photo fight at the white house. the obama administration is giving s